Grim Harvest
by Trurotaketwo
Summary: Apollo and Athena go to defend a socially awkward farmer against self-absorbed prossescutor Franziska Von Karma. The investigation takes the young lawyers to Greenmore village: a small rural town where most of the residents have known eachother since childhood and don't take kindly to newcommers. Gossipy old women, mad dogs, scruffy policemen and eccentric townsfolk await!
1. Chapter 1

Grim Harvest

By Trurotaketwo

Chapter 1

A train sped westwards towards the rural town of Greenmore. One passenger kept glancing at a rather striking young lady in the isle opposite him. Her snug fitting suit looked too formal to be her casual clothes, but the cheerful shade of yellow looked too casual to be formal. Her red hair styled in a fashionable ponytail, but tied with a teal ribbon, giving her an air of innocence and childishness. The onlooker decided to talk to her.

"Are you going all the way?" he asked, hoping she'd laugh at the double entendre. She looked up from the papers she was reading and met his eyes.

"No, I'm getting off at Greenmore."

"Really? Why's a nice girl like you going to a dump like that?"

The girl pondered for a minute if this guy's whole pick up ritual consisted of cliché's and if it ever worked.

"I'm going there for work. I'm a lawyer." She said, indicating the badge on her lapel.

"That's interesting." Said her would be suitor. He indicated to the seat next to her.

"Can I sit here, so you can tell me more about it?"

"I wouldn't. My partner should be back from the buffet car any second now."

"Oh I see. Business partner or romantic partner?"

"Take a guess."

The youth politely excused himself and Athena went back to reading the paper. A man in a red waistcoat can to sit next to her, holding two takeaway coffee cups.

"Here you go," said Apollo "Non fat vanilla latte, low calorie cream and a touch of cinnamon."

"Thanks, Apollo!" she said, taking the cup. "What did you get?"

"Just a black coffee. The day I become so pretentious that making a cup of coffee is a full blown arts project…"

"Still cranky I see."

"Sorry. It's just with things being so rushed. The body was only just found this morning and the trial's being held first thing tomorrow. It doesn't leave us much time to investigate."

Athena held her coffee to her nose and breathed in the sweet aroma of vanilla and cinnamon.

"You'd think the prosecutor would at least give the police more time to look around."

"You'd think that. But they seem to focus on speed more than efficiency. So they go to a crime scene charging in like reckless idiots."

"Anyone would think it was a racing game." Her eyes and smile widened, "If you want to win you have to keep your thumb on the accelerate button, don't let it up and go as fast as possible!" she emphasised with a fist pump. Several other passengers turned their heads to see what the excitement was about.

Suddenly feeling hot under the collar with all the eyes on his partner. Apollo took a sip of his coffee and pretended nothing unusual or eccentric was happening.

"You do know there's a difference between a racing game and a crime scene investigation, don't you?"

"Of course. The difference is that racing games are actually fun!"

They continued sipping their coffee. Apollo pulled his notepad out of his pocket. He was going over what they'd need to do when they arrived.

It had been fairly quiet at the agency lately. The only work they had was a messy divorce case that Mr Wright was handling. But that morning a call came in. Mr Wright took the details. As he had his hands full with the divorce case, he had to ask Apollo to take it. He explained that a farmer had been charged with murder and the case needed to be taken urgently. So they headed down to the detention centre.

Apollo and Athena took their seats and waited for the guards to bring him in. He was a scruffy looking fellow. Tatty jeans, muddy boots and a white t-shirt at as many holes as a cheese grater. He had messy looking brown hair creeping out from under a blue baseball cap. His eyes had a somewhat dim-witted but kindly, air to them.

"Peter deBoer?" Apollo asked.

"Um…y-yes. That's me."

Apollo showed him his attorney's badge.

"Hello. My name is Apollo Justice. This is my partner; Athena Cykes. We've been asked to represent you in court."

"Really?" he looked genuinely surprised, "By who?"

"Well, our boss took the call." Said Athena "He said they wanted to remain anonymous."

He started to scratch the back of his head.

"Who could it be…?"

"Anyway!" said Apollo "Since your trial is tomorrow, we need to start building our case. Can you please tell us what happened?"

"O-oh, right!" he said, popping out of his pondering.

Apollo and Athena got out their notepads and Peter told his story.

"This morning I went I went to the barn to let my cows out to graze. But when I opened the door, I got the fright of my life!"

"What did you see?" Athena's eyes were wide. It was like listening to a ghost story over a campfire.

"I saw…my neighbour, Mortimer Cashmore. He was hanging by a noose from the beam above."

"What did you do, when you found the body?" Apollo asked. Pete's head went to the floor.

"I screamed like a little girl…"

"I don't think you need to write that down Athena…"

"It might come in handy. Maybe somebody heard him!"

Apollo gave a sigh and returned his attention to Pete.

"What did you do next?"

"I phoned Harris Macduff. He's the local sheriff. He was annoyed at being woken up so early, but he came to the farm all the same. He took a look around, took some photographs, and then sealed the barn shut. We used my phone to call the police in the city. When they arrived, they looked around, and then arrested me."

"Did they say why they think you did it?" Apollo asked.

"No. All they said was that they had reasonable grounds for suspecting me."

Athena looked up from he notes.

"Did you know the victim very well?"

"Not very. I know that he was the richest guy in the village. He lived just a little higher up the hill than my farmhouse."

"Did he live alone?"

"No, his daughter Dina Cashmore still lives with him. They have a maid too, I think."

Apollo noted; Daughter, maid. Then he turned the page and held his pen.

"Okay, first we need to establish an alibi. We can't determine the time of death until we get to check out the autopsy report. But if you can prove that you were somewhere else at the time of death, it'll prove that you're innocent. Try to remember. When was the last time you saw Mr Cashmore alive?"

"I think it was around six, last night. He, Dina and their maid were heading into the village. I think it was for the bar maid's engagement party."

"A party, huh? Did you go?"

Pete sighed, looking pretty depressed.

"No. I wasn't' invited. I'm not exactly popular…anyway, once I'd finished my work for the day, I spent the rest of the evening in my house, watching TV."

"Is there anyone who can confirm this? Did you get any visitors or phone calls that night?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm guessing everybody was at the party."

Apollo finished scribbling as he pondered, why the hell couldn't he ever get a client with a water tight alibi?

"In that case, the only thing we can do is question the villagers!" said Athena. "Give us the address and we'll get right on the case!"

Apollo was about to protest, but seeing the client perk up made him think twice. He was such a pitiable man.

The interview had been well over an hour ago. Apollo hoped that it wouldn't be long before the train reached its destination.

"What did you think about his story?" Apollo asked. He and Athena had made notes about the same words, but added different elements. Apollo noted any nervous habits the client was making while Athena noted the emotions in his voice as he spoke. Hence, when the notes are compared, they could tell if something was wrong, without needed a lie detector.

"When he talked about finding the body, there was genuine shock in his voice, so I'm pretty sure that he's telling the truth. But when he talked the whole town being going to that party, I felt sadness and anger. Then again, that would make sense, if he thinks he's being left out."

The train began to slow down. Outside, the sight of brilliant green fields sailed by. The trees, flowers and blue sky made it look very picturesque. There came an electronic sound, like a bell.

"**Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, we are now arriving at Greenmore station. Please alight here for Greenmore. Thank you**."

Coffee finished, Athena stood up. She dusted her knuckles, ready to hit the streets.

"Alright! Let's do this!" she cried, drawing more curious eyes towards them.

Then the train stopped, sharply. Athena toppled over. She found herself lying in Apollo's lap, as the onlookers laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The appeal of the small country village is probably its cosy nature. A picturesque town with old fashioned houses, plenty of greenery and a small but very welcoming and friendly community.

This was not quite the case with Greenmore. The buildings were certainly pretty enough, but from what Pete had told them, the community wasn't exactly welcoming. It was a close knit community where most of the older residents have known each other since childhood. Outsiders were supposedly treated with suspicion, as they always brought the threat of change with them.

Apollo and Athena got off the train and scanned the area outside the station. On one side of the street was a building that looked like an old styled pub. Opposite was the local convenience store.

"The first thing we should do is find the local police station." Said Apollo "They should be able to tell us where the farm is."

"Why don't we just ask where both are at the same time?"

"Good point."

They went into the local store. A group of old women were chatting. But they stopped when they saw our two young adults in bright suits.

Apollo and Athena walk down an aisle as the women eyed them suspiciously. When they got to the counter the man behind it gave them the once over.

"Never seen you two before. What brings you to Greenmore?"

"We're lawyers. We're here to represent Peter deBoer."

"Oh yes? The new guy? I heard that he lynched old Cashmore."

"We don't know if he did. That's why we've come to take a look around the farm. That's why we've come to ask for directions."

"Just a minute I need to serve this fellow. Okay that's two fifty even. Thanks! See you later! Okay, so where do you need to go?"

"The farm and the police station."

The store owner, who they heard from a customer was called Marcus T. Hall, wrote down the directions for them.

"Thanks. By the way, did you know Pete very well?"

"Not outside of work. He supplies most of the produce I sell. Not bad stuff either. Not as good as the last farmer, but hey, he's a city boy, what can you expect?"

Athena noticed the contempt in Marcus' voice when he mentioned "City boy".

"I see. Thanks for the directions." Said Apollo, turning to leave.

"One question." Marcus said. "Since you're representing him in court, I take it he's in jail right now?"

"That's right. The trial is tomorrow."

"I see. Well, I'm going to have to arrange a new supplier. You take care now."

Athena slammed her hand loudly on the counter. Marcus jumped and nervously looked into her focused face.

"Before we go, I have one more question."

She moved her hand to show a candy bar.

"How much is this chocolate?"

With the treat paid for, the lawyers headed out. Athena had barely unwrapped her snack, when a short old woman jumped in front of them.

"Is it true? Did the outsider kill Mr Cashmore?"

"You were eavesdropping!" Athena cried "How dare you!"

The woman looked indignant

"How dare YOU! Talking to an old woman like that! I have every right to know what's happening in this village or my name isn't Gladys Wordsworth! I always knew that deBoer boy couldn't be trusted! I was telling my friends just now, if anyone is a killer, it's that outsider!"

"Y-you!" Apollo snapped "I have just a mind to sue you for slander!"

"Slander?! I don't talk slander! I talk gossip!"

"Slander, gossip, whatever!"

"Not whatever! Gossip is fun! The stuff you read in the newspaper is just gossip! Slander is gossip that morality takes all the fun out of!"

Athena put her candy bar in her pocket and rolled up her sleeve. Apollo knew he had to act fast.

"We're done talking about this." He said as he moved around and took hold of Athena's clenched fist before in one swift move before leading her away.

The two followed the directions Marcus had given them and they found the police station. It wasn't much to look at. A small, cabin looking building with a light outside and a star on the door. If not for the police land rover parked outside, they never would have guessed that this was the sheriff's office.

Athena gave a thoughtful hum as she scanned her eyes over the scene.

"I guess this town has a pretty low crime rate. Otherwise the sheriff's office would be bigger and more modern looking."

"Or it could just be that they thought there were better things to spend their funds on. Like donuts."

"Oh, don't be cynical, Apollo!"

"I'm a defence attorney. I make a living by doubting police decisions."

"Ah touché!"

She took a look towards the front door.

"I can tell just by looking, that our sheriff is a lazy fellow who enjoys the simple things in life."

"You just made a psychological profile just by looking at his house?"

"No, just the sign on the door that says _gone fishing_."

They continued walking until they reached the farm. All around police officers waded back and forth. They went over to the barn and sought out the detective in charge of the crime scene. A very foul stench greeted their nostrils. They put it down to being a building where livestock were kept.

Usually the lead detective was the officer wearing a different outfit to the others, so they went to ask a very tall, very scruffy looking man with a green trench coat.

"Hello. Are you the detective in charge of the investigation?"

"That's me pal. And you are?"

"We're Mr deBoer's lawyers. I'm Apollo Justice, this is Athena Cykes."

"Hi!"

"Oh hi!" I'm detective Gumshoe! Nice to meet you!"

They took a look at the scene. A pedologist was marking an outline around a very smart looking pair of loafers. Athena got out her camera.

"Do you mind if I take a few pictures for the court record?"

"Oh, by all means! Just keep to this side of the police tape. We need to preserve the scene."

Athena's face lit up, like a kid and started taking pictures.

"Do those shoes belong to the victim?" Apollo asked.

"Yup. We found them right under the body. The victim's feet are also the right size to fit them."

Athena, having taken enough photos, joined them.

"So, why'd you arrest Pete?"

"Well, he did it, for a start."

"Any proof?"

"Well, so far, we've only found two sets of footprints. The victim's and the farmer's."

"But it's his barn. Of course the farmer's footprints are going to be here." Said Apollo "What makes you think it wasn't suicide?"

"Well, first of all, there's no suicide note. Second, when the victim was found, his hands were tied up. It was like an old style lynching. So, it doesn't look too good for your client. Do you smell that?"

The lawyers sniffed. The air was still foul.

"When a person is hung, the part of the brain that controls bladder function is cut off. So, when you're strangled to death, you pee."

Athena gagged

"That's disgusting!"

The detective looked embarrassed.

"Yeah, crime is an ugly business." He said.

It may have been gross, but Apollo found it surprisingly insightful.

"That might be useful. Athena! Take some close ups of the shoes!"

"But they're in a pool of pee!"

"You don't have to touch them. Just use the zoom feature."

Colour faded from her face, Athena reluctantly did as instructed.

"Well, I think we've got all can find for now." Said Apollo "Maybe next we should check the victim's house and ask anyone there if they know anything."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Apollo and Athena walked up the hill to Cashmore's villa. The gradient wasn't steep, but it was long. Apollo was already starting to sweat. It annoyed him that this exercise wasn't having the same affect on his partner. Athena just walked casually, neat little strides, with a happy smile on her face. This girl had so much energy that Apollo wondered if she had a high tech, sci-fi warp core where her heart should be.

Finally they reached the door of the big house and knocked on the door.

Soon, an old maid answered the door. She eyed the two of them.

"Can I help you?"

"We need to speak to the lady of the house." said Apollo. "Can we speak to her?"

"The police have already questioned miss Dina."

"We're lawyers, representing Mr deBoer. We need to…"

"I'm afraid I can't allow that. Mr deBoer killed the master, so it would not be appropriate to speak to his people."

"We don't know that for a fact. That's why we're investigating. To find out what really happened."

"Mr deBoer was an outsider. This is such a peaceful village and everyone is so friendly that I can't see anyone else doing it."

She went to shut the door.

"Hold it!"

Athena stopped it with her foot.

"Now, I now you want to protect Dina from feeling uncomfortable, but what if Pete really is innocent? He could face the death penalty! What if it was someone just passing through town, who happened to catch Mr Cashmore off guard? That killer could still be lurking around the town with Dina as their next target! Who knows! Maybe YOU saw something that could help identify the real criminal and they could be after you next!"

The maid turned very pale. Athena continued, her voice getting higher and louder.

"So now you have a choice! You can let us in and save the village from being massacred by a wayward lunatic OR you can let a possibly innocent man be executed and spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, but with the tiny hint of satisfaction at knowing that you protected Miss Dina from talking to us! It's all up to you to decide!"

The maid looked like she was shaking.

"A-Alright, you'd better come in."

"Yay! Thank you!" Athena piped, clapping her hands and flashing a cute smile. Apollo couldn't help but feel as though they'd just bullied somebody out of their lunch money. Psychological warfare and emotional blackmail; Athena was going to be a great lawyer.

The maid let them in and led them to the lounge.

"I will tell miss Dina." She said before leaving the room.

The lounge was certainly charming. Beautiful paintings decorated the walls, a huge bookshelf on one site and brown leather couches. Apollo and Athena sat down.

"These couches are huge!" said Athena. "They make the one at the office look like a gnome's footstool!"

"Well, he was the richest man in town after all."

A mischievous glint appeared in Athena's eyes.

"Why don't I stretch out?"

"Just as long as you don't start grinding mud into the couch just to mess with the maid."

"**You fool! Imbecile! Cretin!**" a loud voice boomed. Athena fell off the couch from the shock.

"I-I'm sorry Miss Dina…" they heard the maid say.

A young woman with black hair and a deep green dress came in.

"DeBoer's lawyers, I presume."

"Yes. I'm Apollo Justice and this is Athena Cykes."

She eyed the two of them with an icy stare.

"Alright, you have five minutes."

"Five minutes?"

"To ask what you wanted to ask. Then you need to leave, before I set the dogs on you. Four minutes, forty eight seconds…" she finished looking at a stop watch.

Athena quickly blurted, "We wanted to ask when you last law your father alive and where you were on the night of the murder."

"As I have told the police, about _eight times_," said Dina with venom, "My father and I went to The Woolpack to attend Stella's engagement party."

"The Woolpack…?"

"It's the local tavern, you simpleton. It's right outside the train station, so only a complete imbecile could miss it."

Apollo, feeling his blood begin to boil, did his best to maintain his composure.

"And who is Stella?" he asked

"The woman who owns the bar. I would have thought that would be obvious. How you two managed to find gainful employment with such a lack of deductive reasoning is beyond my comprehension!"

"Now, just a minute, you spoiled little…!" Athena shot up with her fists clenched. Apollo stood up to stop her from beating the witness. He turned to face her.

"Did you stay there for the whole night?"

"I didn't stay up all night drinking, if that's what you're implying. My father left after an hour or so. He said that there was something he needed to check at home."

"Around what time was this?"

"Nine." She looked at her stopwatch. "And now you're five minutes are up. Leave."

Apollo had been polite long enough. "So that's how your dad made all his money. He sued the charm school."

Dina glowered.

"Gene." She called to the maid.

"Yes, miss?" said the maid, timidly looking through the door.

"Release the hounds."

One could describe the many health benefits of being chased down a hill by two large and very irritated rotwhilers. One the one hand it gives the motivation to run very fast for a great distance, giving one the incentive to keep moving. This allows one to run for greater periods of time, without the temptation to rest very often and thus increases the amount of calories burned. On the other hand, if you are not already physically fit and thus unable to run at a high speed for long periods of time, you run the risk of physical injury or worse still, your clothing being damaged. This was the case for Apollo who ended with a large hole in the rear end of his trousers. Athena, being the more athletic was perfectly fine but they both agreed that when being chased by two large and irritable rotwhilers, the health hazards outnumber the health benefits.

They managed to lose the dogs in the town centre. A young blonde man dressed in purple woollen vest was standing in the doorway of the local florist, smoking a cigarette.

"Just been up to the villa, I take it?" he sniggered. "I recognise the teeth marks on your pants."

"Been chased out of there a few times yourself, have you?" Athena asked, while Apollo busied himself with trying to cover the hole in his pants.

"A lot when I was younger. Then I decided that door to door flower selling was more trouble than it was worth, so I opened a florist here in town."

He finished his cigarette and went back inside. He looked over his shoulder at Apollo.

"Drop by if you want a bouquet for your girlfriend."

The lawyers went on their way as they discussed their next move.

"You know Apollo; you can't go around holding your hands on that hole all day."

She noticed that the local tavern, The Woolpack was just across the street.

"How about we grab some lunch? You can get us a table and I'll go to the store and see if I can find a sewing kit to fix your pants with."

"I didn't know you could sew."

"I can't. I was talking about you."

So they went into The Woolpack and found a table. Athena left to go to the store as Apollo browsed the menu. Burgers, pies, curries. It was a hard choice. It boasted locally produced ingredients. Over by the bar a smartly dressed young black haired man was talking to an attractive woman with long, nicely brushed blonde hair.

"Are you sure you don't need help to watch the place tomorrow, Stella?" the man asked "you don't know how long the trial is going to last."

"Thanks for the offer, Les, but we're covered for tomorrow."

The guy named Les Jobs looked disappointed.

"Oh, come on! Please! I really need a job! I can't even afford new socks!"

Then he took his shoe off and brought his foot to the embarrassed bar maids eye level. She looked increasingly uncomfortable as Les's big toes popped through one of the holes.

"Look at that! All my socks have more holes than a golf course!

"I see…you know, you could easily buy some new socks if you just used your welfare money for that, instead of buying a drink everyday."

"Hey, a guy's got to have money for beer." He gulped down more of his drink to emphasise the point.

Apollo figured that the bar maid was going to be a witness at the trial tomorrow. Presently, Athena came back. She joined Apollo at the table and passed him the sewing kit.

"That Gladys Wordsworth caught me coming out." Athena moaned "She's demanding more info about the case. I told her to stop being so nosy and mind her own business. Then I felt guilty because of how many witnesses have said the exact same thing to me."

"The barmaid is apparently going to the trial tomorrow." Apollo explained "I think we have a fresh lead."

"Ooh! Speaking of which. Listen to this! Gladys said that there's this business woman with a trailer parked outside of town. Apparently she's out to demolish the town to build a theme park!"

"Don't tell me you're starting to believe those gossips…"

"Hey, it's something to go on."

"Good point. Okay, we can go have a look see if we can find her."

"Let's order our food first! Being chased by dogs really gives you an appetite!"

"Okay. Here's the menu."

Athena browsed with hungry eyes.

"Hmm…think I'll have the burger with a soda."

"Great. I'll just go make the order." Said Apollo, standing up.

"Wait, Apollo…!"

"Don't worry, I've got enough. You can pay me back when we get back to the city." He said as he went to the bar.

"Excuse me, can I place an order?"

"Sure. What can I get you?"

"My friend's having the burger and I'll have the steak and ale pie. Can I have two sodas with that, please?"

"Sure thing." said Stella Carling, writing it down. "That's be fourteen seventy three."

Apollo handed the money over and Stella passed the order through to the kitchen.

"So, are you here for business?" she asked.

"Well, yes actually. We're lawyers."

"Oh, the new farmer's lawyers?"

"That's right."

Les (who was still sucking on his beer) looked up.

"Hey, that's right! Someone will have to take care of the farm, while he's in jail!" he said.

"I'm pretty sure Harris is taking care of it." Said Stella, "But it couldn't hurt to ask, I guess."

So Les went off.

"Poor Les. He's so desperate for work, but there are just no jobs available in town."

Stella sighed, shaking her head. Then she turned back to Apollo.

"I'm surprised someone as thrifty as Pete actually splashed out on fancy big city lawyers."

"Apparently, someone else did."

Stella looked puzzled.

"Who in this town would put themselves out like that for an outsider? Besides, it sounds like a waste of money, since he probably did do it."

"Well, everyone's entitled to a fair trial."

"Maybe, but I don't see why I should have to travel all the way to the city to testify."

She got two bottles of soda out of the fridge and gave them to Apollo. "I suppose you'll want to ask me some questions too."

"Well, now that you mention it, I understand that there was a big party here last night."

Stella gave a big smile and showed him the ring on her finger.

"That's right! Steven Masters, the local station master, proposed! We had a big engagement party here last night! We invited the whole town!"

"Except for Pete." Apollo said, matter-of-factly. Stella leaned on the counter and rested her head in her hand.

"Look, I don't really know Pete well enough to consider him part of my clique. Yeah, I buy my ingredients from him, and serve him when he comes in here, but he doesn't drink often enough for me to get to know him that well. Besides, he wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway. Surrounded by strangers who won't talk to him."

That sounded pretty harsh. Apollo had a thought.

"Say, did you take any pictures?"

"Of course! Harris took them. Why do you ask?"

"Well, if I could have some copies for the court record, they could give other people an alibi."

"Well, that's a bit of luck, because Harris printed off several copies of each photo. So everyone could add it to their albums!"

She fished some photographs from behind the counter. There was a big group shot, in front of the bar. Apollo noticed that there was a clock in the background, reading that it was ten at night.

"Is this your fiancé?" he asked pointing to the man standing next to her in the photo.

"Yes! He's wonderful!"

"You both look really happy. I hope it works out for you. So, it's okay for me to keep this photo?"

"Sure. I've got plenty more copies!"

Apollo took hold of the two bottles of soda.

"Thanks! I'll talk to you later!" he turned in the direction of his table. Athena had a hand over her mouth, as if she were trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"By the way!" came Stella's voice. "Nice boxers!"

Apollo looked down, saw the hole, remembered what Athena went to the shop for and made a bee-line for the bathroom to fix the hole in his pants.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Apollo was quiet throughout lunch. Having unintentionally shown both Athena and Stella a glimpse of his boxer shorts has that affect on people. Though he had to admit, the pie was good. Further embarrassment came when Athena took a bite into her burger, which possessed an inch thick layer of ketchup. Red sauce blasted out like a shotgun and splashed Apollo's waistcoat.

"Great. There goes more money on dry cleaning."

"Hey, it could have been worse!" said Athena "At least it's red to match your suit! In fact, I've been very considerate! I could have easily asked for mustard so that it wouldn't stain my suit, but I thought of you and had ketchup!"

"And I'm sure the fact that you like the taste of ketchup better than mustard has nothing to do with it."

Later they decided to try the sheriff's office again. Les Jobs was talking to a tall policeman. The officer had a messy mound of red hair and looked like the only cop they had ever seen that could compete with Gumshoe for the position of the world's scruffiest policeman.

"Is it true that you're going to look after the farm animals now that the outsider's gone?" Les asked.

"Yup." Said the cop.

"Would you like me to help out, since you're going to the city tomorrow?"

"No thanks, Les. That detective is going to cover that for me."

Les looked defeated.

"How would you like a housekeeper? I could be a great housekeeper!"

The policeman shook his head.

"I'm positive. I know you're eager to work Les, but I don't really need a housekeeper."

"Oh come on, Harris! Your office is a pig sty!"

"Well, I like my mess where it is. Anyway, I'm going to the Woolpack for a drink later tonight. Join me, won't you?"

"Okay. See you later."

Les went away. Apollo and Athena introduced themselves to the sheriff. He had very droopy, lazy looking eyes.

"Hi. I'm Harris Macduff. The local sheriff."

"Mr deBoer says that he called you as soon as he found the body."

"That's right. A murder right here in Greenmore is the last thing I thought I'd ever see."

"What made you call in reinforcements from the city?"

"Because when I took a look at old Cashmore, his hands were tied. People who commit suicide generally don't do so with their hands tied behind their back."

"So you just assumed that it was Pete?" said Athena.

"Not at first. I mean, what kind of moron would kill someone, leave the body on their own property and then call the police? DeBoer's kind of dim, but I wouldn't think he was that stupid. But the city police said that the only footprints they found were deBoer's, Cashmore's and my own."

"What about a motive?" Apollo asked "Is there anyone in town who had a grudge against Cashmore? Or would benefit from his death?"

"Well, Bud Rose, the local florist doesn't speak very highly of him. Cashmore was usually the butt of Bud's _a guy walks into a bar_ jokes. Also, because he was loaded, his daughter would get a very big inheritance. But I think that woman in the trailer has the most likely motive."

"We heard about some trailers in The Woolpack." Said Athena "Isn't she trying to chase everyone out of town?"

"Yup. It turns out that Greenmore is built on land owned by the city. The company this woman works for leased the land and they're planning to build an amusement park next year. Mr Cashmore opposed this. In the Woolpack he was always bragging about how he was going to buy the land from the city and kick that corporate floozy out."

"So why didn't he?"

"Well, it turns out that it was just hot air from a buffoon. He always had some excuse. The city hadn't sent him the form. The form was lost in the mail. The form went missing. To tell you the truth, he was kind of tight fisted. We assume he just didn't want to spend the money."

Apollo rubbed his chin, in thought.

"Could you tell us, where can we find this woman? If she'd benefit from Cashmore's death, it might be worth asking her a few questions."

Harris noted the directions and Apollo and Athena went off.

The corporation's trailer park was out in a big field. All the trailers made it look like they were parking for a music festival. After a couple of wrong turns, they finally found the trailer where the project manager's office was located. Alice Dawson had a youngish looking face, silvery blonde hair and very nice legs. She was wearing a black suit with a miniskirt comparable in length to two belts stacked on top of each other. Apollo found his gaze going to her legs.

"Who are you and what do you want?!" Alice snapped.

Coming back to his senses, Apollo cleared his throat.

"We understand that you're planning to build a theme park. Could you tell us more about it?"

Alice handed him a flyer.

"With any luck it should be ready by next year."

"Did Mr Mortimer Cashmore object?"

"Oh, you're investigating the murder. I've already told the police everything! Do I really have to repeat myself?"

"It couldn't hurt."

"I was in my trailer, working all night. I have security footage to prove this. I have a watertight alibi. So there!" she finished with an air of satisfaction.

"You were quick to think we were accusing you." Said Athena suspiciously.

"Well, that Cashmore was always going on about how he was going save the town from big bad Alice, hell bent on world domination. So naturally, everyone thinks that I'm the Morgan Le Fay to that old windbag's King Arthur!"

Athena lost her cool.

"Well he had a point! How do you justify kicking all those people out of their homes?"

"Oh, here we go! The same crappy lecture I've heard a million times before! Every-single-one of those country bumpkins has come in here, getting all self-righteous, telling me what a horrible person I am and storming out without listening to my side of the story!"

She folded her arms, sat back and crossed her legs. Apollo got a brief glimpse of something white and silky.

_Whoa…_

"Those morons are only looking at it from a negative side. Think about it- it's a beautifully designed park, it'll provide hundreds of people with jobs and it'll bring people closer together! What's so wrong about that?

Apollo's attention was elsewhere. Athena's answer came slower than expected, as Alice did have a point about providing people with jobs and bringing people together.

"But you're chasing people out of their homes! Where are they supposed to go?"

Alice gave a yell and brought her hands to her scalp.

"Those tree huggers can't get it into their thick skulls! _I'M_ not the one who wanted to build a park here! _The company I work for _did! This is a perfectly legal way of making money and we _did_ offer to compensate them for the costs of moving! I refuse to be demonised by an uneducated bunch of hicks! You want to know what I'm doing here? _My job_! So I suggest you two do yours and find the real murderer!"

The lawyers left, both red in the face. Athena from anger, Apollo from the slight of Alice's…

"What a bitch!" Athena yelled. Apollo snapped out of his daydreaming.

"O-oh! Yeah. Defiantly."

Sexy but bitchy. That must make her popular in certain circles.

"And you were no help at all! Mentally undressing her like that!"

"What?! I was listening to every word! But you two didn't stop talking for long enough for me to get a word in!"

"Baloney! I can hear the lust and denial in your voice! You couldn't take your eyes of Alice's legs!"

"W-w-well I couldn't help it! That skirt was so short! It's human nature! I mean, what if we talked to a female witness and I had my shirt open?"

"She'd probably tell you to go on a diet!" said Athena poking him in the stomach "Too much pie! That's your problem!"

It was getting late in the day. Apollo and Athena headed back to the farm, to see if they could find anything they had missed before. The sun was setting. On the way to the farm they stopped and looked at it. The sunset covered the trees and valleys with a warm glow. They could see the village down the hill. Local stores were finishing their work for the day. Smoke drifting out of the old fashioned chimneys. Wrapped in the golden glow of sunset, the place looked so tranquil. It was the sort of image you'd find on a tourism poster.

"The view from here is amazing!" said Athena. "It's so beautiful!"

Apollo nodded his head in agreement. "It looks like a toy village from up here."

It certainly looked cosy. The sort of idealistic hamlet where everyone is everyone else's friend, the worst problem that happens is a petty squabble over soccer results and one hoped that it would be the same the next day and the day after.

But alas, that wasn't the case. As proven by their meeting with Alice, beauty can be a mask for unpleasantness. Someone down there had killed a man. The local farmer was a social outcast and within a year, this would all be reduced to rubble.

They reached the farmhouse further up the hill and saw Detective Gumshoe talking with Sheriff Macduff.

"You can't go out drinking!" Gumshoe bellowed "You're expected to testify in court tomorrow morning!"

"Just one won't hurt." Said Harris "Besides, it's all part of my crime prevention program."

"How is drinking stopping crime?"

"I go to the Woolpack and ask all the known drivers to give me their car keys. I leave them a ticket and they can pick the keys up at the office tomorrow."

"But that's ridiculous!"

"How is it ridiculous? It prevents drunk driving and saves the police having to chase people down and arrest them."

"But that's so…so…unorthodox!"

"Maybe, but it works. Anyway, here are the keys to the land rover. I'll be taking the first train out tomorrow morning."

Gumshoe sighed in defeat.

"Sure. Thanks pal."

Harris turned to leave for the Woolpack when he saw the lawyers.

"Been to see Miss Dawson then? How did you find her?"

"Flawed, beautiful, unpleasant."

"That sounds about right."

Harris continued on his way. Apollo and Athena went to speak to Gumshoe.

"Hello, detective. Did you find anything else?"

He scratched the back of his head.

"Well, yes, but I got a call from the prosecutor. She ordered me not to tell you anything."

"What? But that's not fair!" said Athena "All we're trying to do is find the real killer!"

"Yeah, but the prosecutor doesn't see it like that. As far as she's concerned, it's war. She says that giving you any information is tantamount to treason."

Seeing that Gumshoe was going to be keeping things under his hat, the lawyers gave up and went on their way.

Under a web of stars, Apollo and Athena went down to the station to catch the last train. After a brief but uncomfortable wait, the train finally arrived and they boarded. Athena went to the dinner car to fetch the coffee while Apollo looked over his notes. While he got a fairly decent haul of evidence (the party photo the footprints, the crime scene diagram, the photos that Athena took, etc), he didn't have anything conclusive. Nothing that proved somebody else had committed the crime.

Athena came back with the coffee and a couple of muffins. She handed Apollo his cup.

"So, any ideas?" she asked.

"No. I can't see the trial going well. If we had more time to investigate, we might be able to find something. If this prosecutor is a secretive as Gumshoe says, then she'll probably spring the autopsy report on us during the trial. But they might have been able to narrow down the time of death with that urine puddle."

"Don't mention urine when I'm drinking!"

"Sorry. By the way, do you still have your camera with you?"

Athena checked her pockets and pulled her digital camera out.

"Yeah, why? Want to take a selfie?"

"No. I was just making sure you still had it. Let's drop by the office and print the photos. Maybe we can work something out."

It was around ten when they reached the station. They hailed a cab and took it back to the Wright Anything Agency.

Phoenix Wright and his daughter Trucy were no where to be seen, having locked up and gone home for the night. Athena hooked her camera up to the computer and printed the photos out. They began preparations for the trial.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chattering was heard from the crowd. There were many topics of discussion in a courtroom, just before a murder trial- Did he do it? Why did he do it? Does that really cute legal secretary have a boyfriend?

The judge called the trial to order.

"All rise. Court is now is session for the trial of Mr Peter DeBoer, for the murder of Mr Mortimer Cashmore. Defence Team leader, are you ready?"

"The defence is ready, your honour." Said Apollo

The prosecutor was a tall woman with fair hair, just reaching the base of her neck with an unusual bluish hue. She stood with her arms folded, emphasising the large shoulder pads in her shirt. Her eyes were closed and her nose was turned up, as if smelling something nasty. She didn't answer.

It was a few seconds before the judge repeated the question.

"Um, Ms Von…ow!"

The defence lawyers gaped. She just pulled out a whip and smacked the judge with it. She looked over at the defence bench.

"Mr Apollo Justice. Miss Athena Cykes."

"Um…yes?"

"I, Franziska Von Karma, am a prodigy among prosecutors. When I first began, I had a flawless string of victories."

She cracked her whip at the wall. "But your mentor took that winning streak away from me."

"Mentor…? You mean, Kristoph Gavin? Ow!"

Apollo rubbed his stinging cheek.

"You fool, making your foolish assumptions! I refer of course to Mr Phoenix Wright!"

"Mentor? He hasn't taught me anything about the law that I don't already know. He's not my mentor, he's my employer."

"Silence! That fool disgraced my family name! I travelled all the way to this country to do to him, what he did to my father! But my chance to ruin Mr Phoenix Wright's spotless record was snatched away from me! When he was disbarred eight years ago, I thought that my honour had been restored. He used false evidence and was deservedly punished. He was a fraud! He most likely used forged evidence in the trials when he went against me. But then he had the nerve to be proven innocent! He ruined my sunlit perfection! Now I shall have him suffer the same by defeating you and ruining your flawless records!"

Athena, propping her board head on her hand, gave a groan.

"And your life story is relevant to this case, _how_? Ouch!"

The judge tapped his gavel to the desk as Athena rubbed her cheek, throbbing from the whip strike.

"I take it that means that prosecution is ready."

"Yes. I am finished. You may proceed."

"He just let her commit assault and battery, to a judge, in front of witnesses, and get away with it…" said Athena looking exasperated.

"This is all we need." Said Apollo "Another Blackquill."

"Ms Von Karma, you opening statement, please."

"Gladly. I will have this case wrapped up within three moves. On the evening of June the seventeenth at approximately ten in the evening, Mr Peter deBoer fought with Mr Mortimer Cashmore in his barn. Having rendered Mr Cashmore unconscious, the defendant then took him up to the upper level, where the fodder is stored and hung the victim. Now, for my first witness, I call Sheriff Harris Macduff. The police officer who discovered the body."

Sheriff Macduff took to the witness box.

"Name and occupation." Said Von Karma.

"My name is Harris Macduff. I am the sheriff in the village of Greenmore."

"It was you who concluded that it was murder, correct?" the judge asked.

"That is correct your honour."

"Please testify to the court, what happened on the morning the defendant was arrested."

"Yes, your honour. At about five in the morning the phone went off. I answered and the defendant told me that he found Mr Cashmore hanging in the barn. I got dressed and I went straight over. I went into the barn and examined the scene. I noticed that the victim's hands were tied, indicating that someone had strung him up. I took photographs of the crime scene, locked the barn and used the farm telephone to call for a crime scene investigation unit. The forensic geologists marked where the footprints were in the barn. The only footprints found were those of the victim, the defendant and myself."

"I have here a diagram of the barn, showing where the footprints were." Said Von Karma. A bailiff turned on a projector and showed a bird's eye view diagram of the barn."

The judge nodded.

"The court accepts this diagram into evidence."

Apollo and Athena took a look at the diagram. Cashmore's prints and Pete's prints both lead up to the upper level. Then again, Pete's prints were all over the place. Harris' prints were only on the lower floor. The fact that there were only three sets of prints seemed daunting.

"So there you have it." said Von Karma, tilting her nose in the air with a smug, self-satisfied smile "the only one that could have killed the victim was Mr Peter deBoer."

She bowed, as if finishing a ballet performance.

"The end."

The judge turned to Apollo.

"Mr Justice, you may begin your cross examination…"

"Objection!" Von Karma screamed, causing many a heart to skip a beat, "This is an open and shut case! Cross examining the witness would be a waste of the court's time!"

Athena leaned in to Apollo and whispered; "Translation; he did it because I said so."

"Well, it's true." Said the judge "It doesn't seem possible for anyone else to have committed the crime."

Apollo's mouth hung open at how easily the judge was buying into it. He stammered.

"O-objection, your honour! If my client had murdered the victim, why would he leave the body on his own property and call the police? Ow!"

Von Karma brandished her whip

"Any fool can see it! The fool thought he was being clever by acting innocent in the hopes of fooling the police with a foolish display of crocodile tears."

The judge looked impressed. "Well, that sounds like the most possible theory. It seems like the most logical solution, given the evidence."

"It is as I predicted." Said Von Karma as her nostrils flared like two railway tunnels, "Victory in three moves or less."

Apollo couldn't believe it. His jaw hung open. The judge was going to declare Pete guilty without giving them a chance to fight back. That's not fair!

"Objection!" Athena, eyes blazing, pointed at the judge. "Your honour, the defence has every right to cross examine the witness! It's protocol! Ow!"

"I have already said that this is an open and shut case!" Von Karma screamed. "The matter is closed!"

"And I say that your case has more holes in it than a Lego brick!"

"My case is perfect!"

"Prove it! If you're so sure about your precious case then you won't mind a cross examination!"

"I have spoken!"

"Order! Order" the judge roared hammering his gavel. "I see no reason why the defence should not cross examine the…ow!"

"You'll regret this, you old fool!" Von Karma yelled, pounding her desk.

Athena pulled Apollo's ear. If she wanted to whisper something, she could have leaned over. It would have been less painful.

"Listen, I heard some discord in Von Karma's voice when she showed the judge the diagram with the footprints. There was fear in her voice! She knows that something isn't right with it!"

Apollo took a look at the diagram on the projection screen. He took a look at the footprints. Cashmore's prints.

"Wait a minute. It looks like the defendant's footprints are going in a circle." He said. It was true. On the screen, he could see Cashmore's prints going into the barn, up the stairs, back down again and out of the barn.

"But what does that mean?" Apollo wondered. Then a thought occurred to him. Apollo opened his briefcase and browsed through the crime scene photographs. Finally, he found the one he was looking for.

"Your honour, before I cross examine sheriff Macduff, I would like to submit this photograph of the crime scene into evidence."

The judge accepted the photograph and a bailiff loaded it into the projector. The scene showed Mortimer Cashmore hanging above the puddle of urine and his shoes.

"Sheriff Macduff, is this how you remember the scene when you first examined it?"

"Yup. That's what I saw alright."

"May I ask, did you touch the body at all during the investigation?"

"No. When discovering a body it's important not to tamper with anything, so as to preserve the crime scene."

"So, you didn't take the victim's shoes off the body?"

"No, they were on the floor when I arrived."

Apollo felt life returning to him. The diagram and the photograph cause the gears to turn in his head.

"Then what were the victim's shoes doing on the floor? Why would the murderer take them off the victim and them leave them there?"

Harris looked honestly baffled. He sat in silence for a minute.

"I have no idea." He said at last.

Apollo knew what to do next.

"Now, I would like to direct the court's attention to the shoes themselves. Notice that they are in a puddle of urine."

He could hear Athena gagging next to him.

"_What is it_ with you and urine?" she moaned "You have urine on the brain!"

Was that a gentle way of calling him a piss head? Anyway, no time to whip out snide remarks! Apollo continued-

"I notice that there doesn't appear to be any moisture on the tops of the shoes."

"Objection! The victim's shoes falling off is not relevant to this case!"

"Actually, they are." Said Apollo, unfazed by Von Karma's yell, "If I understand correctly, when one dies from hanging, the brain loses control of the mechanism that stops one from urinating. If the victim died while wearing these shoes, there would be traces of urine on the tops of the shoes. However, since they are dry on top, it stands to reason that the shoes were placed in the puddle after the victim was killed…ow!"

"T-this is ridiculous! There were no traces of bare footprints found in the barn! The only footprints in there were the victim's, the defendants and this idiot sheriff's!"  
"How an I an idiot?! Ow!"

"You speak only when I give you permission!"

"Apollo, there's a lot of anger and fear in her voice! We're on the right track!"

One really didn't need an empathetic ears or knowledge of psychology as vast as Athena's to tell that Von Karma was really pissed off.

The judge banged his gavel and called for order.

"Ms Von Karma, where are these shoes now?"

"They're still at the crime scene, as far as I know."

"Still at the crime scene! But they are vital evidence!" Apollo's face was glowing a violent red "You withheld important evidence! That's perverting the course of justice!"

"Ms Von Karma is this true? If so, I will have to penalise you!"

"I committed no such fault, your honour. The detective in charge of the investigation should have sent them along. I will see that he is punished for this mistake."

_That's a big fat lie!_ Apollo thought. _You kept back evidence on purpose you cheating little…!_

"The question is," said the judge, "if the defence's theory is true, how were there no barefoot prints?"

Athena was quick to jump into the fray.

"I may be able to illuminate that for you, your honour!"

She turned to Apollo. "Say, Apollo, what shoe size are you?"

"Men's size eight. Why do you ask?"

"I'm woman's size seven myself. So, as you can all see, my partner's feet are bigger than mine!"

"Athena, is this necessary?"

Athena bent down and untied her shoelaces

"Sure is! Now, could you lend me your shoes?"

"My shoes? What kind of random…oh I see what you mean!"

Apollo quickly undid his shoes and passed them to Athena.

"Now, as you can see," Athena began "My partner's feet are considerably larger than mine. Which means…" she confidently walked out from behind the defence bench, casually strolling in Apollo's shoes. "…I can fit into his shoes quite easily! And this is how the killer navigated the crime scene and kept the victim's shoes from getting wet at the time of death."

The crown talked amongst themselves. But while they were starting to see where the defence was coming from, Von Karma was relentless.

"Objection! This tomfoolery changes nothing! Mr Peter deBoer is the only person who had both a motive and an opportunity to kill the victim!"

"Objection, yourself!" Athena snapped, "Our client doesn't have a motive! He had nothing to gain from Mr Cashmore's death!"

Von Karma stood silent. Her body quivered slightly. Then she let out a slow, arrogant laugh.

"I can prove that Mr Peter deBoer had a motive. I have here in my possession a form, from the city. It is a form to purchase the land that Greenmore village is built upon. And it was found inside the defendant's house, _**right on his coffee table**_!"

It couldn't be…Pete was planning to buy Greenmore?

"The defendant and the victim were both planning to buy the land that the town was built on. Whichever one sent in their form first, would become the landowner and essentially rule the entire village. That is why Mr Peter deBoer killed Mr Mortimer Cashmore- to take over the town that had shunned him, in the name of petty revenge!"

_Isn't petty revenge the only reason you're prosecuting this case? _Apollo thought.

Von Karma cracked her whip onto the bench to call attention.

"And with my final witness, I shall prove that Mr Peter deBoer was the only one with an opportunity to commit the crime. I submit the autopsy report!"

A bailiff went around the court, handing out copies of the autopsy report to the defence bench and the judge.

**Victim's Name: Mortimer Cashmore**

**Age: 57**

**Time of Death: 10:00pm **

**Cause of death: Strangulation from hanging.**

**Additional notes: Traces of a blow to the back of the head, implying that the victim was knocked unconscious before being hanged.**

"She kept this close to her chest for a long time..." Said Athena. "She's deliberately withholding information."

"For my last witness, I call Miss Stella Carling to the stand." Von Karma called out.

Stella went up to the witness box.

"Name and occupation."

"My name is Stella Carling. I run the local tavern, The Woolpack, in Greenmore village."

"Good." Said Von Karma "Now testify to the court, the reason why the crime could only have been committed by the defendant."

Stella took a deep breath.

"On the might of the murder, I was holding my engagement party. I am to be married to Steven Masters, the town station master. I had invited the whole town to the party. Pete was the only one I didn't invite."

The judge looked at her with a judgemental, annoyed stare. "That sounds very mean spirited, Miss Carling. Why exclude the defendant?"

"Well, I don't know him very well. He isn't very popular in the village and besides, he has to get up early. Farmers always have to get up early, so a late night party and drinking all night wasn't really his scene."

"And what time did the party end?" Von Karma asked in a tone similar to a very patronising teacher asking a slow witted student what 1+1 made.

"I'd say around three in the morning."

Von Karma made a condescending nod of her head.

"There you have it. The entire village was at the engagement party, except for the defendant. The end."

"It sounds pretty bad." said Athena "There's no fear in her voice this time."

Apollo looked though the autopsy report and his briefcase.

"Actually, this works in our favour." He said.

"Really?!"

"Mr Justice," said the judge "your cross examination, please."

"Thank you, your honour." Here comes Justice.

Apollo stood up and walked in front of the witness stand, making eye contact with Stella.

"Miss Carling, would you say that you were on good terms with everyone in Greenmore?"

"I like to think so. Over a drink, many a friend is made! And since the Woolpack is the only watering hole in town, I know everyone in the village."

"It must be nice to be popular. I take it then, that the Woolpack was pretty crowded that night."

"It was! Hardly room to swing a cat!"

"Lucky for the feline…I have in my possession a photograph taken at your engagement party, by Sheriff Macduff. May I show it on the projector?" he asked, turning to face the judge.

"Very well." Said the Judge.

The bailiff showed the photograph to the court. A large group of people were lined up in front of the camera, with the happy couple in the middle.

"I would like to direct the court's attention to the clock, just above the bar. It reads that it is exactly ten o'clock at night. The time of death. Now the other thing I would like to cover is this- Why isn't the victim's daughter, Dina Cashmore in this photograph? Or Les Jobs? Or Bud Rose or Marcus Hall? Yes, the whole town may have been invited, but it seems that not everyone invited turned up!"

"Objection!" Von Karma's voice had suddenly become higher in pitch and raspier. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets and a film of sweat oozed on her brow. "This line of questioning is irrelevant to the case!"

Apollo smugly folded his arms and look along his nose at her.

"Ms Von Karma, it was _you_ who said that my client was the only one in the village with an opportunity to kill the victim. Ow!"

"Your honour! Don't let this fool, fool you with his foolish tomfoolery!"

Apollo blew his top and slammed his fist on the bench  
"That's a lot of F words, Von Karma, here's one you forgot, you fu…!"

"Order! Order! This is a court of law, not a school playground!"

The gavel hammered, echoing all around. Finally, there was silence.

The judge took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

"A lot of new evidence has come from today's trial. While not enough to prove Mr DeBoer's innocence, the defence has proven _a possibility _that the crime was committed by a third party. The defence and prosecution will need to investigate further. Court will reconvene at four PM tomorrow afternoon."

The gavel made a gentle tap.

"Court is adjourned for today."

The spectators got up and started to leave.

"Well, we've bought ourselves some time…ow!"

From the other side of the court, Von Karma was breathing heavily, like a bull that caught sight of Apollo's red suit.

"I'll get you Justice! Next time!"

Apollo pondered- in his career, he had heard of cases where people were killed over very petty things. A defence attorney killing a client just for changing lawyers, a man being poisoned because he cheated to win an eating contest, an obsessive cartoon fan who planted a bomb in the scriptwriter's car just because she wrote an episode that he didn't like; The list of petty reasons for murder was long. With this in mind, Apollo looked at Von Karma and wondered why the hell someone hadn't murdered her yet.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The atmosphere in the Wright Anything Agency was not very pleasant. Phoenix Wright felt the tension in the air. His two junior partners were in an ugly mood.

"She's a monster!" said Apollo, "All the pain and suffering she's caused, all the people's lives that she's ruined and she shows no remorse!"

"I can't believe she'd go that far just to boost her own stupid ego!" Athena joined in, red in the face. "She has no ethics, no morals and probably no reflection, either!"

At last, Phoenix had had enough of their negative attitude.

"Will you two stop complaining about Stephenie Meyer and get back to work on the case!"

"Sorry, Mr Wright." Said Apollo, "I guess we're a little frustrated with how the trial went. That Prosecutor kept hitting people with the whip and the judge just let her. I just hate it when I feel like I've been cheated. "

"I wish I'd known beforehand. If I knew Franziska Von Karma was the prosecutor I would have switched cases with you."

"Well, that divorce case is taking up a lot of your time." Said Apollo "But yeah, knowing in advance that the prosecutor was going to be a woman child who thinks of trials as a children's card game would have been useful."

"Try not to be too hard on, guys. You see her father…"

"Stop. Right there. Stop. Before you start trying to make us feel sorry for her, just keep our back stories in mind."

_Back stories?_ Phoenix thought. What did Apollo think this was? A movie?

But while Apollo could have chosen a better phrase than back stories, he was right.

Apollo was abandoned by his mother when he was a year old, grew up thinking his own family had forsaken him and Athena saw her own mother murdered right in front of her. Both cases were worse than having a father who was supposedly a strict perfectionist. Even if Phoenix just tried to explain why Franziska behaved the way she did, Apollo and Athena would think he was just making excuses.

"Say, if I could speak as a psychologist for a minute?" said Athena "I've made up a psychological profile of Von Karma. Her attitude is actually consistent with the behaviour of children lacking parental discipline."

"How so?"

"Well, children tend to see things from a first person view and deal in absolutes. Good and evil, with me or against me, and so forth. From the child's point of view, they are the good guy and everyone apposing them are the bad guys."

"Is that that why she treats the legal system as a fad-tournament, thingy?"

"Exactly. Proper discipline should have tempered her ego and taught her not to lash out when people say or do something that she doesn't like."

"I think the bigger question is; why does the judge let her get away with it."

"He's probably just a masochist. Anyway, we need to plan out what we're going to do next."

"Best thing to do is visit Pete." Said Apollo. "The detention centre should be open soon. We need to ask him about that bid they found in his house."

"Are you going back to Greenmore after that?" Phoenix asked.

"Yeah." Said Athena, "We managed to get another day to investigate, so we'd better make the most of it."

"In that case, I'll book the train tickets for you, while you're visiting your client. It'll save some time."

So Apollo and Athena went off to the detention centre where Pete was brought out.

"Mr Justice, Miss Cykes, I wasn't expecting…"

"From now on, you tell us EVERYTHING!" Apollo blurted. Pete jumped in fright.

"So, what was that form to buy the land doing in your house?" Athena asked.

"Well, I heard about Mr Cashmore wanting to buy the land, but he always had an excuse. He kept saying that he lost the form. So I figured, the farm's made a lot of money, why don't I just buy it?"

"You could have told us, earlier!" Apollo snapped, "We were counting on the argument that you didn't have a motive!"

"But I didn't! I mean I don't! All that matters is saving Greenmore! It doesn't matter who owns it!"

"But if it was you, then the villagers would have to respect you!"

He looked upset.

"Look, I know I'm not popular with the townsfolk and yes, I want to be respected. But I'm not going to take a man's life just to get it!"

Seeing how upset he looked, Apollo realised that he and Athena probably looked like parents scolding their child. Greenmore was obviously important to Pete, despite his unpopularity.

"So, why is Greenmore so important to you?"

"Because the farm I run used to belong to my grandpa. When he died, he left the farm to my family. My dad said I could have the run of it until I found a real job. So I want to make the farm a success. I want to show him that this is a real job and I have a future. That's why I'm always working so hard. I want to make it a little patch of heaven."

"The view from the farm _is_ really beautiful." said Athena "We passed down the hill when the sun was setting. The view of the village really took my breath away!"

Pete looked a bit happier.

"It is gorgeous, isn't it? When I finish work for the day, I sometimes like to sit there, looking over the town, at the setting sun, pondering life's mysteries."

"Oh, like, what's the meaning of life?" Athena proposed.

"Or, why do bad things happen to good people?" Apollo added.

Smiling nervously, Pete scratched the back of his head. "Well, actually I just think about what I'm going to have for diner that night…"

And here Athena though she had Pete down as a very deep and profound person. But apparently the only thing about him that was deep was his stomach.

"Anyway we now have several other suspects. Dina Cashmore, Bud Rose, Les Jobs and Marcus Hall. Can you think of anything that they might have against Mr Cashmore?"

"Well, sometimes when I deliver produce to the Woolpack, I sometimes see Rose Bud in there. I sometimes overhear him talking about Cashmore, something unpleasant."

"What does he say, exactly?"

"Mostly that he's a paranoid old fart who's always setting the dogs on him."

Apollo noted this in his book.

"Okay, there's…a very tiny possibility of a motive. Any others?"

"Just Dina Cashmore. I'm assuming that if her father left a will she'd inherit a lot of money. I don't know Marcus or Les well enough to tell you anything about them, though."

Apollo got up.

"I think that's all the questions we have for now. Come on, Athena, let's go back to Greenmore."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When the lawyers arrived back in the village of Greenmore, they discussed where to head next.

"The florist is right near the station." Said Athena. "I think that would be the best place to start."

They went in. The flower shop was filled with sweet smelling air as large flowers of every colour imaginable flanked the way to the till.

"I see you decided to take me up on my offer of a bouquet." Said Bud Rose, the florist.

"Actually, we wanted to ask you a few questions." Said Athena.

"Ooh, asking me for my number?" he said with a smirk, "Sorry, but I'm already spoken for."

This was answered by an angry glare from Athena and an exasperated look from Apollo.

"Actually, we wanted to ask what you were doing around ten, last night."

"What _wasn't_ I doing?"

A surge of tension suddenly swept over Apollo. His bracelet squeezed against his wrist. Bud was hiding something.

"I was at Stella and Steve's engagement party."

"Wait." Apollo said, "Your hand in your pocket…why did you start twiddling your finger when you said the word _doing?_"

Bud suddenly looked taken aback.

"W-what?"

"You look nervous all of a sudden. So that proves you're hiding something!"

"No! I told you! I was at Stella and Steve's party!"

Athena, regaining the fire in her eyes, whipped out the photograph taken at the party.

"Then how come you're not in this picture, pretty boy!"

The colour drained from Bud's face. He looked like a rat up against a wall with two cats strolling towards him.

"I…I was with someone at the time…"

"Who?"

"I don't want to say. If it got out, both our reputations would be in trouble. It could have also incriminated one of us as the culprit!"

"Well, that's one gambit that's just bit you in the butt!" said Athena, "By keeping your little hanky panky a secret, it destroys any alibi that the two of you would have had if you had just come clean in the first place! By trying to protect this person, you've just made yourselves look guilty! I-r-o-n-y!" she finished in a rather annoying sing-song voice.

Bud's head drooped.

"The scandal…"

Apollo took a step forwards and said in a calm but firm voice; "Whatever rumours get spread about, being suspected of killing Mr Cashmore will be worse. Now, just tell us the truth."

Bud took a sigh and told them who he was with.

"I was with Dina Cashmore. I had been visiting the mansion to see her, but her father didn't approve. We would often meet in secret. When her father left the party early, we thought it would be a chance to…" he buried his face in his hands. "Please don't tell Dina that I told you. She'd never forgive me if it got out."

"I'm afraid we'll have to tell her, to confirm your alibi." Said Apollo "But if Greenmore is as closely knit as the villagers claim it to be, I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"Yeah," Athena added "She'll forgive you, sometime in the next century!"

The lawyers took their leave. They decided to visit the police station next. When they got there, they found that Harris was out. They decided to visit the trailer park again and see if Alice could tell them anything. When they arrived, the area was crawling with police officers. Gumshoe was leading a group of officers, all carrying files out of the office.

Then they saw Von Karma.

She and Alice were having a blazing row.

"You can't just help yourself to company property!"

"I can do whatever I want! I have the police under my command and I have higher social status than you!"

"I have every right to sue you!" Alice yelled "I'll report this!"

"Be my guest, Miss Alice Dawson!" said Von Karma in her loudest, haughtiest voice "But by the time you make your complaint and the report is filled out, I'll have all of this stuff photocopied and placed back on the shelves! By then it'll be a moot point and I can charge YOU with wasting police time!"

Alice smouldered. Her hands rolled into fists and her face burned in frustration.

Apollo and Athena stood watching the catfight threatening to start. Then a sharp sting on Apollo's cheek brought him back to reality. He gave a yelp and stumbled into Athena, toppling down to the ground. Von Karma brandished her whip and glared at them.

"And YOU! You two will be reduced to rubble! You will pay for making me investigate, myself! I shouldn't have had to waste my time here! But thanks to your foolishness I have to lead these fools!"

Apollo and Athena picked themselves up. Athena made a fist as Widget burned an angry red.

"It's called _work_! Something that wouldn't be familiar to a spoiled little brat like you!"

"How dare you!" Von Karma raised her whip.

"Bring it!" Athena shouted stepping towards her.

Quick as a flash, Apollo grabbed Athena and flipped her onto his shoulder. He ran for the hills.

"Put me down! Let me at her! Let me at her!"

Her legs spun like pistons. Several times, she caught Apollo in the side of the stomach. He soldiered on with the wind knocked out of him. Letting her go meant death. Or at least a very big lawsuit that they'd have to spend the rest of their lives paying off.

Eventually, they came to the road to the farm and the mansion. It was there that Athena used her body weight with a forwards momentum to bring Apollo crashing to the ground and they rolled in the grass.

"I'm gonna break her neck!" Athena yelled. She tried to get up, but Apollo pounced and pinned her.  
"No! She'll sue!"

Athena rolled over on top of him.

"She needs discipline!"

"You seem to need some yourself!" Apollo grunted, rolling on top and pinning her shoulders to the ground.

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Enough talk! Have at you!" Athena cried, digging her fingers into Apollo's armpits. He gave a snort. He couldn't laugh or break. He had to hold her down.

"S-Stooooooop!"

He couldn't hold on! He released her. The tickling stopped.

Then he shot his fingers under Athena's arms and gave her a taste of her own medicine. Her fingers came back up with an immediate counter attack. They laughed and rolled around in the grass like children.

"Am I interrupting something?" came a voice.

Everything went silent. The pair's stunned faces turned to see Sheriff Harris Macduff. Both red in the face, they picked themselves up.

"Good afternoon, sheriff."

"_Very_ good, by the looks of it." said Harris with a grin. Apollo and Athena dusted the grass off the backs of their suits.

"Can we help you with anything?"

"I think so. I'd like you two to come to the mansion with me." He fished a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"I went to the chief of police after the trial this morning and got this search warrant. Come on!"

Harris led them up to the mansion.

"Why are you helping us?"

"That prosecutor gets on my nerves. The kind of over promoted bureaucrat who takes all the credit when things go right and dumps the blame on others when things go wrong. You showed that it was possible for someone other than Peter to commit the crime, so I decided to do some snooping."

Finally, they arrived at the mansion and knocked on the door. Gene the maid answered it.

"Hello, Harris. What's wrong?"

"Hello Gene. Can you let us see Miss Dina?"

She seemed to realise that the lawyers were with him.

"Well…I don't think it would be appropriate…"

Harris whipped out the piece of paper.

"Gene, you see this piece of paper? This is a search warrant. It means that I can look around the mansion to my hearts content. If you don't let us come in, I'll have to come back with an arrest warrant."

So, she let them in. Dina Cashmore was naturally outraged.

"**Vandals! Cads! Bullies! Tyrants!**"

"You'd better watch what you say, or we'll have to tell everyone what you were up to the other night!" said Athena. Dina's eyes widened.

"What I was up to?"

"Oh yeaaaaaah. With a certain someone in a purple vest…"

Dina went red. "You wouldn't…!"

"I would, unless you show us some manners!"

Dina made her apologies and excused herself.

They went into the study. Harris put on some gloves and started looking in the bins. He opened up the paper shredder. Slivers of paper floated to the floor. They rummaged around in the pile of paper until every shred was separated.

"If my theory's right, then there should be a clue in here." Said Harris. "If we can put it back together, that is."

"Ooh!" Athena gave an excited squeak "Like a jigsaw puzzle!"

Apollo suppressed a snigger.

"Well that's a good analogy. Somewhat childlike and naïve, but a good analogy."

They got to work sorting through the papers. After a while, Gene came in, with a tray.

"Tea or coffee, since you're going to be here for a while?"

Harris stood up with a grateful smile.

"Thanks Gene! I could use a bit of coffee!"

"Mr Justice? Miss Cykes?"

"No thanks." Said Apollo "Maybe later."

"I'd love a cup!" said Athena.

Gene put the tray down and left them to it.

"Aren't you going to have a cup, Apollo?"

"I'd rather not. It's good practice not to accept food or drink from suspects during a murder investigation. I read this book once where the heroine has tea with someone she suspected of poisoning the victim. I read that and I thought, _what an idiot_. Accepting tea from a poisoner."

"Gene? The murderer?" said Harris "Nah! There's no reason she'd do it."

"Besides," Athena added "Gene was in the photo that Sheriff Macduff took at the time of death."

Apollo hummed, mulling it over in his head.

"Ture. But that doesn't rule Dina out. She still doesn't have a watertight alibi."

"Well, there is the possibility that she was with Bud, doing the…"

"Okay, Athena! Point made! But we still need to confirm it."

"Besides, I'm pretty sure the real murderer is a man." Said Harris.

The two lawyers looked at him.

"You see, if we are to assume that Mr Cashmore was knocked out, outside the barn, then the guilty party would have had to carry him for a certain distance. Also, there were signs that he was knocked out beforehand. So our culprit would have to be someone strong enough to overpower him and carry him all the way to the barn. Most women don't have the upper body strength."

"Hold it!" Athena piped "How do you know that no woman in this town is as strong as any of the guys!"

Uh oh. Apollo thought. Gender wars.

Harris brought his hands up, trying to calm her down.

"Whoa, whoa, time out. I was just saying that men have more upper body strength. It's nothing to do with which gender is better, it's just simple genetics."

"All right, I'll prove it! Arm wrestle! Right now!"

"Aren't we supposed to be piecing these documents together?" said Apollo.

Blushing slightly, Athena got back on her knees and resumed working on the puzzle.

Finally she placed the last piece in place and triumphantly pointed at it.

"There! A true lawyer leaves no puzzle unsolved!"

The three looked at it.

"Just as I thought." Said Harris "It's the bid to buy the land."

Apollo turned to face him.

"Sheriff, do you think it's possible that somebody broke into this house and destroyed the bid, to stop Mr Cashmore from buying the land?"

"It looks like that. I'll take this back to my office and do a fingerprint analysis."

"It might be hard to get in there right now." Said Apollo "I think Von Karma's laying claim to your photocopier while she copies everything from Alice's trailer."

"Damn. Well, don't worry. I'll keep this chose to my chest and do the check when no one's looking."

They sealed the strips of the bid to keep it save and said their goodbyes. Harris headed back to his office, leaving Apollo and Athena to discuss their next move.

The agreed to try Marcus' store and then the corporation trailers again. Apollo hoped and prayed that Von Karma wouldn't still be around, and he'd have to stop Athena from getting into a fight with her.

Then again, if it meant rolling around in the grass with Athena again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Apollo and Athena went into the shop just across from the station. Marcus Hall was talking with a very outraged Gladys Wordsworth.

"Seven dollars?! But last week it was only four!"

"Sorry, Gladys, but with the farmer in jail, I have to import my produce in from elsewhere. I need to cover the cost of shipping."

"Shipping indeed! Where are you ordering the tea from? India?!"

Eventually, Gladys paid the money and was on her way. Then she saw red. And Yellow. She recognised the red lawyer and the yellow lawyer.

"Well?" she said as she hopped over to them, "Out with it! Who did it?"

"If we knew, we wouldn't still be here looking for clues." Said Apollo.

"No leads? For all your big city diplomas and la-di-da education, you're stumped? Ha!"

Athena looked as though she was ready to go into rage mode again.

"Why don't you mind your own business, you nosy old hag?!"

"Better a nosy old hag, than a brainless little squirt with higher bust size than IQ!" Gladys turned to leave. Apollo had to grab hold of the frantic, raging Athena.

"If anyone here in town is a criminal it's Marcus over there! Raising his prices this high has to be illegal!" said Gladys as she left

"I don't get what her problem is." Said Apollo.

"Maybe she just doesn't take kindly to city folk." Said Marcus.

Athena glared.

"You sounded angry when you said city folk. Why?"

He leaned on his hand "Why not? All they care about is sex, drugs and money. Looking down on us country folk as an underclass."

"You're the one branding everyone from urban areas with the same brush."

He flinched at his hypocrisy being highlighted.

"Look, if you're not going to buy anything, then leave. I have a business to run."

Then he moved his hand to Athena's shoulder with the intention to turning her to face the exit. That was a big mistake.

Athena swatted Marcus' hand out of the way, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, dragged him into the backroom and slammed him against the wall. Her self defence instinct kicking in when it looked as though someone was trying to grab her.

She snapped out of it and realised that she was in an awkward predicament. She hadn't meant to use violence, but she decided to run with it.

"Alright, buddy! Spill! Why do you hate city folk?"

"Let me go or I'll have you arrested!"

Athena punched him in the stomach. He reeled forwards, the wind knocked out of him.

"Arrested for what? As long as I don't touch the face, there's no evidence! Besides which…"

Then Athena did something that completely took the men by surprise.

She grabbed Marcus' wrist and pulled his hand right onto her breast. Marcus gave a yell, flushed with shock and embarrassment. Apollo just starred, speechless.

"Now your fingerprints are all over my jacket! So if I ruff you up, I'll just tell everyone that it was self defence, because you groped me! You sexual harasser, you!"

"M-me?! Y-y-you're the one that…" he turned to Apollo, pleading for help "You saw what happened! You'll back me up, right?"

"Whose side do you think he'll take?" Athena yelled, not giving Apollo a chance to answer the question, "You, a big fat jerk who openly hates us city folk and has been as unhelpful as possible, or me, his opposite gender best friend?" and to further emphasise her point, she put an arm around the still flabbergasted Apollo.

"Alright! I'll tell! I'll tell!"

Athena dropped him and he limped over to the chair, to sit down.

"There used to be a girl in the village. She was my…well, I wanted her to be my girlfriend, but she left. She went to collage in the city. Then I found out that she married some rich kid she met at collage." His face fell. The memory was causing him great pain.

"Everything I did to win her over and she dumps me for some spoiled rich kid."

There was a silence. Marcus' reason for hating the city and all who dwelled there was because of a broken heart.

"You childish and sorry excuse for a human being…" said Athena. "You hate people who happen to live in the city, just because some girl you like has the option of being with them instead of you! You're nothing but a selfish loser! No wonder she picked the other guy instead of you!"

Marcus' buried his head in his hands. It seemed that Athena had broken him. Had they discovered a motive for murder? Well, if Cashmore owned a company in the city and the guy she married worked for that company it could be revenge by killing the head of the company. Or if Marcus' romantic rival was related to Cashmore or Pete. If either of those theories were possible, then they'd need Marcus to show up in court.

"Before we leave," Apollo said at last, "Here's a court order."

The lawyers left. Apollo knew that Athena was a very emotional woman, but this time, she had really let Marcus have it.

"You seemed particularly vicious back there." He said in a friendly, 'just-saying', kind of voice.

Athena let out a sigh.

"Yeah, well, clingy guys like that really get my back up. A girl he had a crush on gets a boyfriend and he brands all other city folk as jerks, taking all the girls away from him! I bet if he somehow got lucky and married that girl, he'd be the kind of jealous husband who wouldn't let his wife have any friends, period! Regardless of gender!"

It seemed that chauvinism was one of Athena's buttons. He couldn't exactly blame her but risking being jailed for assault was one thing that should be avoided at all costs.

Apollo and Athena returned to the corporate caravan park.

"It looks like Von Karma isn't around." Said Athena.

"She's probably engaged in her hobby of running people over and then suing them for scratching the car's paint." Said Apollo.

Finally, the got to see Alice.

"What is it this time?!" she barked. "Will you people ever just let me get to work?"

Apollo tilted his head up and looked down his nose at Alice. Not out of a feeling of smug superiority, but because it was the only way to stop his gaze from going to Alice's gorgeous legs.

"I'm sorry, Miss Dawson, but there are questions we need to ask you. We've found out that Mr Cashmore had every intention of buying the land and that someone broke into his house to destroy the paperwork he needed."

"What the hell does that have to do with me?"

"You have to most obvious motive to…

"Oh for goodness sake!" Alice slammed a fist onto her desk "I told you before! I have security footage of my alibi! I was in here _**all night working**_! So instead of bothering me, why don't you do your own damn jobs and work on helping that cretinous farmer?!"

A wave of shock flashed over Athena's face.

"Your voice…"

"What?" said Alice, blinking.

Athena's eyes widened. "I heard an unusual emotion in your voice. When you mentioned the farmer, I heard joy…"

Alice's mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged.

"T-that's ridiculous." At this point her face was beginning to redden.

"Well, well, well! Someone has a crush!"

"You idiot! I don't like that stupid farmer!"

"There's the happiness in your voice again! So cute!"

With a scream, Alice's face slammed into her desk. Finally, she acknowledged defeat.

"So, when did you first fall head over heels in love with Pete?" Athena asked.

With a face flushed bright red, Alice explained.

"It was a couple of months ago. I was walking by the river, when a local kid kicked a soccer ball at me. The little brat knocked me into the river! Pete was driving past, after he delivered some stuff to the store. He helped me out of the river and offered me a ride. Since his farm was nearer than my trailer, he let me dry off and lent me some clothes, while mine were drying."

As she spoke, Alice started to look a lot less hostile. "We had coffee, made small talk and he drove me home. It was the first time anyone in this village had ever been nice to me…."

"Wait a minute." said Apollo "It's you, isn't it? You're the one who hired us to defend Pete in court!"

With a sigh, Alice nodded. "Yes. That's right"

"So, if you really want to help Pete, then just cooperate."

She nodded her head again.

"Pete would sometimes come over asking why we had to build a park here. It's because this is the only land big enough for the park we've designed. At least, the only one owned by the city that we could lease out at the time. He didn't want to lose his grandfather's farm, but he at least heard me out. In fact, sometimes he'd bring strawberries that he'd just picked. We'd have them with cream and a cup of tea." Her face wore a lovely smile. ". He was the only one in the village who actually listened to my side of the story. The only one who didn't demonise me, just for doing my job."

There was a knock at the door. Alice opened the door and Gumshoe came in, holding a big pile of papers.

"We've finished photocopying this first set of papers!" he said "So you can have them back now."

"I see. Thank you detective."

Gumshoe noticed Apollo and Athena.

"Say, be a pal and give me a hand, will you?"

So the lawyers each took some of the papers from him and placed them on the desk.

"Thanks. I'll be back with some more in a while."

Then he left. Apollo noticed the stack of papers.

"Wait, what are these?"

"That's a completed application form."

"Hold on, you mean someone in Greenmore actually wants to work for this theme park?"

He advanced upon the paper. Alice stretched her arm out in alarm.

"Wait! It's confidential!"

She was too late. Apollo had already seized it and was studying it. His eyebrows jumped.

"No way… so there is someone in Greenmore who wanted the construction to go ahead!"

"What? Who is it?" Athena piped up, springing to his side and reading along. "Oh wow…but it just makes so much sense!"

"Not just that, but this person wasn't at Stella's party at the time of the murder! Now we have somebody with both a motive and an opportunity!

Alice slumped into her chair.

"Oh, don't mind me! The worst that could happen is that **I could be fired for letting you read that!**"

"Don't worry your pretty little head!" said Athena "If it leads us to the real killer, you'll be fine!"

"Assuming this person really is the killer." Alice moaned "What proof do you have?"

"Actually," Said Apollo as his face started to light up "We might just be able to prove it! Something this person said before made me think of a certain piece of evidence."

Apollo whipped out his phone and dialled the sheriff's office.

"Hello, Sheriff Macduff? It's Apollo Justice. Listen, do you have prints on file for all the villagers? Great! We've just found some new evidence. What I need you to do is call the city crime lab and…"

When the call was finished, Apollo put the form in his brief case.

Apollo and Athena said their goodbyes. Then they went around the town, handing out court orders to all the relevant people and dashed back to the station to catch the train home.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

In the defendant lobby Apollo finished off his warm up.

"I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine! I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine! I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine!"

"Hi Apollo!" said Athena "All set for today?"

"Kind of. I know what I have to do, but I think Von Karma's going to pull out every dirty trick she can think of to stop me."

"Don't worry your pretty little head about her! Last night I came up with a foolproof plan to stop her from interrupting!"

"Really?"

"Really! I used all my psychological know-how to come up with the right strategy to tame the beast!"

"Great! How does it work?"

Athena clasped his shoulders.

"All you have to do is get her mad enough to whip you!"

Silence fell.

Athena looked at Apollo with a sweet, child-like smile with wide, innocent blue eyes. Apollo looked at Athena with the face of someone who had just been told that water is dry.

"That's your plan? I let her whip me?"

"Yup!"

"This is the plan you've been up all night planning and took all of your psychological knowledge to come up with?"

"Yup!"

Silence fell again.

"You know, I think I'd be better off if I had a vacuum cleaner or a toaster for an assistant…"

"That's just the first phase of my plan!" Athena retorted "All you have to do is get her mad. I'll take care of the rest of it!"

Pete was escorted into the lobby by two bailiffs. Naturally, he looked nervous, but not as much as he had been before.

"Ah, Pete!" Athena piped, "How's our client today?"

"Well, I'm doing better. Do you really have everything you need to prove who really did it?"

Apollo nodded and gave a confident, reassuring smile.

"Yes, we do. We just need a chance to call the right witness to the stand."

Pete breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. I really need to get back to work. My potatoes should be ripe for picking by now. Not to mention the cows and chickens…"

A bailiff opened the doors.

"Please proceed to the courtroom." He said.

"Showtime!" Athena sang, prancing through the door with Pete walking behind her. Apollo picked up his briefcase and followed them through.

_Yeah._ He thought. _I'm Apollo Justice and everything's going to be just fine!_

The room was full of people from Greenmore. Everyone rose for the judge.

"Please be seated."

Everyone sat down and the trial was called to order.

"Court will now reconvene for the trial of Mr Peter DeBoer."

"The defence is ready, your honour."

"Very good. And the prosecution?"

"The prosecution stands by its claim that Mr Peter DeBoer is the one who killed Mr Mortimer Cashmore, in order to secure the land Greenmore is built on, for himself."

"My client simply wanted to buy the land to stop the village from being demolished." Said Apollo. "He just wanted to save his family farm."

Von Karma flared her nostrils as he looked down her nose at Apollo.

"You foolishly believe that to be his reason? I can prove a very different reason for Mr Peter deBoer wanting the land. The prosecution calls Miss Alice Dawson to the stand."

The bailiffs escorted Alice to the stand. She looked just as baffled as Apollo and Athena as to why she had been called. As she walked all eyes were on her long legs.

After a moment of admiring the view, the judge came back to reality and cleared his throat.

"Please state your name and occupation."

"My name is Alice Dawson. I'm the project leader for the Funland tourism, Greenmore project."

"Funland tourism, indeed?" the Judge asked "Isn't that the company behind the Colton Towers theme park in England?"

"That is correct, your honour."

Von Karma cracked her whip onto the desk.

"Now witness, you will testify regarding your relationship with the accused!"

Alice's eyes widened

"R-relationship?!"  
"Yes! Mr Peter deBoer wanted to buy the land so that your theme park project could go ahead! That is why he killed Mr Mortimer Cashmore! As a favour for his girlfriend!"

"I-It's a lie!" Red faced Alice spluttered "W-we don't even have that kind of…ow!"

"You do! From your very office I found security footage of Mr Peter deBoer visiting you on several occasions! Often bringing strawberries and cream with you making the tea!"

H-h-he's just being friendly! Ow!"

"No! I have proof that you enlisted those two second rate lawyers over there to defend him! Admit it! You and the defendant are engaged in a sleazy love affair!"

Apollo's anger overflowed. He shot up and slammed the defence bench.

"_**Objection!**_ The prosecution is badgering the witness and spreading slander!"

Screaming a war cry, Von Karma raised her whip and swung it at Apollo.

"Now!" Athena shot up and grabbed the whip in her gloved hand, twisted his around her wrist and yanked it out of Von Karma's hand.

"What are you…?! Give me back my whip!" Von Karma screamed.

Athena met her eyes. They stared each other down like cobra's preparing to strike.

Then Athena pouted and leaned forward.

"Sorry young lady, but if you can't play nice, then I'm going to have to take your toys away."

"T-t-toy?! My whip is not a toy! It is a symbol of my authority!"

"I don't care if it's a symbol of authority, little missy! It's not okay to hit! No cookies for you!"

"Athena, what are you doing?" Apollo asked, even though he knew that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Our little Fanzy here needs discipline. She has to learn not to lash out when people say things that she doesn't like."

Von Karma pounded the prosecution bench, sweating bullets.

"Miss Athena Cykes! Stop treating me like an infant! **I'm nine years older than you**!"

"Well when you start _acting_ like a twenty-seven year old, I'll start _treating_ you like a twenty-seven year old." She finished with her hands on her hips. Loud sniggering was heard from the policemen in the front row.

The judge, feeling that the opposing forces had enough of a break for their mindless hanky-panky tomfoolery, called for order.

"Miss Dawson, please testify to the court, about your relationship with the defendant."

Alice had calmed down a bit, but she still had traces of a blush on her cheeks.

"It's true that Mr deBoer came to see me regularly. But nothing is going on between us! Whenever he comes to visit, he tries to talk me out of the project I'm working on. My security tapes record voices as well. Just listen to them and you'll see that I'm telling the truth!"

"But isn't it also true that you hired the defence to defend Mr deBoer?" the judge asked.

Pete had been looking at Alice with wide, surprised eyes ever since Von Karma announced that Alice was his mysterious benefactor. Their eyes met and her face turned a couple of shades redder.

"Well…" she gave a defeated sigh, "It's true. I did hire the lawyers. Pete helped me out once, so I wanted to pay him back."

"So there you have it!" said Von Karma, "Miss Alice Dawson and the defendant are accomplices! The end!"

"Objection!" Apollo called out "The relationship between my client and the witness is irrelevant to this case."

"Besides, It's not nice to spread rumours. How would little Franzy like it if I told everyone that you wet the bed?" said Athena waving a finger at Von Karma.

Recoiling from being talked down to by a teenager, Von Karma cleared her throat, inhaled and turned to Apollo. If Athena was going to patronise her then she decided that Apollo would the one she needed to crack.

"Mr Apollo Justice, I see that you have inherited your mentor's inability to function without a young girl at his side, but…"

"Mentor, mentor, mentor!" yelled Apollo "You keep using that word! Are you sure you even know what it means?"

"Shut up! The fact remains that your very existence is a stain upon the legal world. Mr Phoenix Wright may not have been able to show his face in court without girls half his age backing him up, but at least he never let them fight the trial for him! Try as you might, you are just an amateur, living in the shadow of another man! _**You're no Phoenix Wright!**_"

There was a silence.

Apollo looked over at the prosecution with wide eyes. On his face was an unreadable expression.

Von Karma's own attempt at psychologically breaking her opponent had worked.

At least, she thought it had.

Then, much to her surprise, Apollo smiled.

"Really? Is that the best argument you can come up with? My point is irrelevant because I'm different to the guy I work for? Of course I'm different. It's like comparing tea to coffee. How little or how much I have in common with my employer has nothing to do with the case."

He pointed at Von Karma, standing up right with a fiery passion burning in his eyes.

"So the prosecution's little rant amounts to nothing more than a waste of the court's time!"

"Duly noted." said the judge "For wasting the court's time, I give the prosecution a penalty."

Von Karma's mouth fell into an unrecognisable shape and her eyebrows jumped clean off her face as her world crumbled around her.

"No! My perfect, spotless record! You can't penalise me!"

Athena stood up, hands on hips, with that pouty, nagging look on her face. "That's what happens when Franzy spreads nasty lies and say mean things to others! If you're naughty, there's a penalty! _**Penalty**_!"

"Miss Athena Cykes! Stop treating me as though I'm your illegitimate love child or I'll…"

"Don't threaten mommy or I'll send you to bed without your supper!"

The judge called for order and turned to Apollo.

"Mr Justice. Your witness."

Apollo stood up. The time was now to strike.

"The defence calls Mr Les Jobs to the stand."

Les was escorted to the witness box.

"Please state your name and occupation?" said the Judge.

"My name is Les Jobs. I am currently unemployed."

"I'd like to cross examine the witness, your honour."

"Very well."

"Thank you, your honour." Apollo stood up, opened his brief case and took out a photograph.

"Mr Jobs, Do you recognise the people in this photograph?"

"Yes. That's from Stella's engagement party."

"Where were you while this photograph was being taken?"

"Well, I hit the drink pretty hard before most of the other guests arrived. I'd reached my limit and gone home by the time that photograph was taken."

"Is it just me, or was there a note of fear in your voice?" said Athena as a grin spread across her face.

"I also noticed that you fidgeted a little before answering." Said Apollo "Why so nervous?"

"Objection!" Von Karma screamed "If I'm not allowed to use my whip, then the defence shouldn't be allowed to use their powers either!"

"Powers?" Apollo said to Athena "Who does she think we are? Daredevil and She-Hulk?"

"You do turn the right colour for She-Hulk after you've been on a roller coaster!" Athena giggled.

Von Karma pointed towards the defence bench. "I demand that the bailiff's seize that bracelet and that ridiculous tamagochi thing!"

"Objection, your honour. All I'm doing is reading body language. Likewise, all Miss Cykes is doing is interpreting forensic linguistics. Both of which are perfectly legal practise. The prosecution's '_special power_' on the other hand, is tantamount to assault and battery, therefore is against the law!"

"Objection noted. Bailiff, leave the defence be."

"This isn't fair!" Von Karma screamed.

"Neither was calling your little brother a ridiculous tamagochi! Now say you're sorry!"

Franziska Von Karma's face had never looked more hilarious.

"This is outrageous, your honour! These fools are playing you for a fool to try and make me look a fool!"

"Order, order! Ms Von Karma, you do yourself no favours with your mindless babbling! You will be silent or you will be held in contempt of court!"

"He's hamming it a little, isn't he?" Athena whispered to Apollo "He's probably feeling bolder without that whip threatening him."

"I guess he's working off all those years of frustration at being abused and insulted by prosecutors."

The judge turned to the defence bench.

"Please continue, Mr Justice."

Apollo did so.

"Mr Jobs. Do you truly expect us to believe that you would drink that much? Someone unemployed and thus can't afford too much beer?"

"I've known about the party for weeks. I had plenty of time to save my money up."

"Oh really now? I've never been married before, but don't the groom and bride usually hold the engagement party shortly after they get engaged?

"Well, yes but…"

"But nothing. I think I can prove where you really where that night."

Les' face started to turn very pale.

"You can't think that I killed him!" said Les "Why would I do something like that? I'd have nothing to gain from it!"

"Nothing to gain, eh?" Apollo smirked "I have evidence to show that you would benefit from the construction of the theme park."

Apollo whipped a piece of paper out of his briefcase. "I found this application form to work for Funland, in the corporation trailer. It has your name on it."

"W-well, I figured, I'd prepare, just in case…"

"So you admit, you wanted to work for Funland. Therefore, you didn't want Cashmore to buy the land."

"Objection!" Von Karma yelled "Just because he was preparing for the worst doesn't mean anything sinister. _You_ may not like planning ahead, but intelligent people, such as myself, make it common practise!"

"Exactly." Said Les as the colour came back to his face. "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!"

Apollo glared at Von Karma. He was ready to make her eat those words.

"Oh, I agree, Mr Jobs. However in this case, what was best for you wasn't what was best for the rest of the village."

Apollo pulled the form to buy Greenmore from the briefcase.

"This document was found in Mr Cashmore's study. Specifically, it was found in the paper shredder. The court may remember from yesterday that Mr Cashmore had been talking about buying the land but never followed through with it. It turns out that the real reason for this is that someone kept destroying the forms every time the victim received one!"

"And who's prints were found on this little beauty?" Athena joined in, "That's right folks! The finger prints of Mr Jobs!"

Les began to sweat. His face went off-white.

"I-I-I-I-I…! I just happened to touch it! When…! When I went to ask for work one day!"

"Even so, Mr Jobs, the evidence shows that you would indeed benefit from Mr Cashmore failing to acquire the land, so…"

"Objection! This witness may have a motive and an opportunity, but they don't prove anything!" Von Karma called out.

_A motive and an opportunity were all __**you **__needed to claim that Pete did it, you big, fat hypocrite…_

"Yeah! What the she said! There's no proof that I did it!"

"Well, well, well!" Athena chirped, clasping her hands together "Now you see? You don't need to bully people with a big nasty whip to make a point! My little Franzy is growing up!

A look of outrage washed over the Prosecutor.

"You…you smug…patronising…!"

Apollo listened to the police officers and bailiffs laughing their heads off. Even the judge was hiding his face to mask his sniggering.

Athena's approach to dealing with Von Karma was both childish and completely unprofessional.

And yet it was also strangely satisfying.

At last the time was at hand.

"Mr Jobs, I think it's time I showed the court where you were at the time of Mr Cashmore's death

Apollo brought out the victim's shoes.

"These are the shoes that were found under Mr Cashmore when he was hanged. As discussed yesterday, the true killer used these shoes to navigate the barn and hang the victim."

"So?"

"You have holes in your socks, don't you?"

Then Les' eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"We all saw it." Said Athena with a big cheesy grin "In the Woolpack your had your dirty sock out for all to see."

The witness gulped. Apollo looked into his eyes. The lawyer looked like a tiger saying his grace before pouncing on his diner.

"We asked the sheriff of Greenmore to dust the shoes for prints. Normally these kinds of shoes wouldn't show us anything because people usually wear socks. But in this case, there was a print…"

"No…no…!"

"Your toe print was found inside the victim's shoes! It was the holes in your socks that gave you away!"

"Noooooooooooo!"

Les' head fell. It was over. He was well and truly screwed.

"All those years at collage…I was studying to become a great leader. I could have been a great community leader. But no one would give me a chance. All I wanted was a chance to prove myself. But nobody would give me a job…everyone had their place in society. Even that farmer, an _outsider_ had a place. I thought that if the town were demolished and the theme park built in its place, that would fix them. Then they'd know what it was like to have nothing. To always be on the outside, looking in. Heh. For a bunch of people who cal themselves a closely knit community, they weren't in any hurry to help one of their own out.

"I went to Stella and Steve's party and waited for Cashmore to turn up. Then I made my way to his house. Whenever I heard about him getting a letter from the city, I'd intercept it. I knew where one of the window tiles was loose. I'd take it out, open the window and let myself in. I made my way to the study, found the form and fed it into the shredder. But then Cashmore came back. He was starting to catch on to someone taking the forms. He caught me red handed. He told me that I'd never work in this, or any town, again. He went to tell Harris. I couldn't let him rat me out. I'd worked too hard! I panicked and punched him in the back of the head. I had to get rid of the body. I decided to hang him in the barn. That way, the outsider could take the fall for it."

Apollo shook his head. What a horrible person Les was. There was a lot that he wanted to say but since none of it was very polite, he simply said-

"No further questions, your honour."

The judge nodded. He called the bailiffs to take Les away.

"Fools…"

All eyes turned to Von Karma. Her whole body was trembling and her face was burning.

"Now, now!" said Athena "Pouting won't get you anywhere, little Franzy!"

Then, Von Karma snapped.

"**Foooooooooooooooooooooooooooooools**!" she screamed, as she started pounding away at the bench.

"**Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools!**" Her arms flailed all over the place, smashing against the bench and the wall, as she started foaming at the mouth.

Detective Gumshoe ran up to the flailing Prosecutor grabbed her wrists and wrestled to slap the handcuffs on her.

"Clam down Ms Von Karma! We're just going to get you some help"

"**Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools! Fools!**"

Gumshoe dragged her out of the courtroom. Shortly, he returned.

"What in the name of all things bright and beautiful was that display all about, detective?!"

"Sorry pal, I mean, your honour. Ms Von Karma's been suffering from a stress related mental disorder ever since she was a kid. That whip she uses is kind of how she copes with her anger issues."

Athena started to turn very pale.

"She copes with stress be attacking people? Hasn't she ever heard of anger management therapy?"

"Regardless." Said the judge before Gumshoe could answer "I will see to it that Ms Von Karma gets the help she needs. At the moment I must hand down my verdict."

He turned to the defendant's seat and looked at the farmer sitting there.

"In light of this evidence and confession, the court finds Peter deBoer not guilty."

Apollo and Athena met Pete in the defendant lobby.

"I can't thank you enough." Said Pete. "I'll give you all the milk you can drink!"

"Thanks!" said Athena "But if you should thank anyone, it's Alice for hiring us. Oh! There she is now, doing a bad job of hiding around the corner!"

Alice gave a yelp as all the eyes were on her. She gave a sigh and came out of hiding. There was a silence as she faced Pete.

"I…um…came to pay Mr Justice and Miss Cykes for their services…"

Pete scratched the back of his head. His checks gained a faint red glow.

"Alice, I…um…well…"He extended his hands and took hold of Alice's. "Thank you."

Alice turned her head away, embarrassed but maintaining her composure.

"You're…welcome…"

Athena winked at Apollo and motioned to the door, indicating the idea of leaving Pete and Alice to talk. Apollo suppressed a chortle and there were about to leave when suddenly-

"**Blockheads! Numbskulls! Blithering idiots!"**

They all turned in fright to see Dina Cashmore, heading up a group of Greenmore villagers. She eyed Pete and Alice with piercing green eyes.

Then she let out a sigh as her eyes fell to the floor.

"That's what we acted like-a bunch of ignorant fools." She said "Peter, I think we all owe you an apology."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A few days later, the staff of the Wight Anything Agency were invited to a party at Pete's farm, to celebrate the purchase of the land. Decking, coloured lights and beer barrels were set up and most of the village had turned up.

Phoenix was standing around, talking to a few of the villagers.

Gladys Wordsworth claimed. "Of course, I knew Pete was innocent all along! I never trusted that Jobs boy!"

Phoenix's daughter Trucy was amusing people with her magic show. She made pigeons appear out of her magic panties and fly in a heart formation above Dina Cashmore and Bud Rose to celebrate then finally being open about their relationship. Dina was so pleased at the trick that all she could say was-

"**Wonderful! Stupendous! Magnificent!"**

"So, what's next for you, Alice?" Athena asked, catching her at the buffet table. "What are you going to do, now that the theme park's been cancelled?"

"Well, I've been talking to Pete, and he says he'll try to find some part of the land for us to try out a smaller project. Failing that, he said we could charge admission to visit his farm. Apparently, a farmer in England turned their working farm into a tourist attraction."

"That gives you a nice little excuse to stick around!" Athena grinned as she looked over at Pete. Alice turned away to hide her blushing face.

"It's not like that…"

"Suuure it isn't. Ooh! I love this song!" and Athena dashed off to grab a partner.

Apollo talking with Pete.

"I had no idea you made so much." Apollo said.

"Well, I have a few contracts with supermarkets in the city. They pay me a pretty good rate."

"Maybe you should use the money to buy a suit. You'll need one, now that Stella and Steve have invited you to their wedding."

"Oh yeah! I never thought about that! It's the first time I've ever been invited to anything in the village."

"I'm really happy for you." Said Apollo, patting Pete on the shoulder "It must be wonderful, feeling that your really belong."

"It is. Even Marcus told me that he was glad to have me back as a supplier."

All of a sudden, Athena sprang into view and grabbed Apollo's arm.

"Come on Apollo! Let's dance!" she said as she dragged him to the dance floor.

Athena looked over Apollo's shoulder and watched Alice walk up to Pete. There was an awkward silence. Both of them were blushing. An unspoken attraction. Athena loved it. Pete offered his hand. Alice smiled and took hold of it. Then walked onto the dance floor together. Perfect!

Bud and Dina, Steve and Stella, Pete and Alice: Love was certainly in bloom in Greenmore. Maybe Pete was right. That his farm had become a little patch of heaven.

When Apollo and Athena were finished dancing, they went to their table to join Phoenix, Gumshoe and Sheriff Macduff, who was putting the last of the car keys he had collected into a metal box. Phoenix, who had been taking a call, hung up.

"Who was that, boss? Was it about the divorce case?"

"Actually, that was the chief prosecutor. He says that he's going to arrange for Franziska to have anger management therapy and he wants you to help her, Athena."

"What?! Why me?!"

"Well, his exact words were, _if Miss Cykes insists on assuming the role of Franziska's mother, she'd better follow through with helping towards her rehabilitation._"

"In other words," said Gumshoe, "You broke, you fix her!"

"Better go through with it, Athena." Said Apollo, smirking, "After all, it might screw her up even more if she thinks mommy's abandoned her!"

Athena smouldered as the men sniggered.

"Besides, we kind of want to avoid a lawsuit from these people." Said Phoenix.

"Okay." Said Athena at last "Apollo and I will go and see her first thing in the morning!"

"Wait, what?! Why do I have to go too?"

"Of course you have to go! We don't want her to think we're getting a divorce!"

"Divorce?! What are you…!

Athena gave him a hug, while starting to laugh.

"What do you think I'm saying? You're supposed to be the dad!"

The End

**Author's Notes:**

Original concept: Originally, this story was going to be a crossover with Harvest Moon, with a working title _Turnabout Barnyard _and the victim being the Mayor. However, I had trouble picking which Harvest Moon village to set it in. Another problem with the idea was that the characters in Harvest Moon games are (for the most part) so friendly and welcoming that it became very hard to portray any of the lovable villagers as a murderer. So I figured it would make more sense to just make up a bunch of original characters for the story. So, rather than a crossover, _Grim Harvest_ was simply inspired by Harvest Moon, with some of the influences still present in the final version.

Character names:

Peter deBoer: Pete is the default name of the player character in the older Harvest Moon games. Although some people call him Jack, Pete is the default name in the Gameboy Color titles and it's also his official name in Puzzle de Harvest Moon for the DS. DeBoer is a popular Dutch name that means "The Farmer".

Mortimer Cashmore: Cashmore, because he was the richest man in the village. It actually comes from Wilton Cashmore from the old children's series _Joshua Jones_. Mortimer was chosen as his forename so that it would sound like "More Cash! More!"

Dina Cashmore: Dina, because the character was partly inspired by Dia from the Harvest Moon instalments _Save the Homeland_ and _Hero of Leaf Valley._ Her maid Gene is also a composite of Dia's maids, Martha (being middle aged) and Gina (the timid nature and similar sounding name). The big difference of course is that Dia was very shy and something of a bookworm, while Dina's tendency to yell a thesaurus' worth of names at someone was given to her to add a funny character tick to fit in with the Ace Attorney games' style of humour.

Marcus Hall: To sound like Market Stall.

Bud Rose: Reverse to names to get Rosebud.

Les Jobs: Reverse the name to sound like Jobless.

Stella Carling: _Stella Artois_ and _Carling _are two popular brands of lager. It seemed like a fun name to give to a bar maid.

Steven Masters: To sound like Station Master.

Gladys Wordsworth: Gladys is a common name given to old women in fiction, but also sounds like _Glad_. Wordsworth, because she's a big gossip, so words are worth a lot to her. So Gladys is a gossip who's Glad of Worthy Words!

Alice Dawson: She's based on Alice, the defacto villain of _Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley_. I chose the surname Dawson, because while I was trying to think of a surname, I caught sight of a _Dawson's Creek_ DVD.

Harris Macduff: Harris is based on fictional detective Hamish Macbeth, who is the protagonist of M.C. Beaton's _Death Of A…_series. The forename, while sounding similar to Hamish, also doubles as a nod to the Harvest Moon character Harris, who was the town policeman in _Friends of Mineral Town_. The surname Macduff comes from the character in William Shakespeare's _Macbeth_.

**Thank you for reading and thanks for the comments and feedback!**


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